I've been doing some research on research. It seems like the news tells us about some new drug or device that has been shown in a study to be useful to patients, or has been approved by the FDA almost every day.
In the process of doing that research, I've confirmed that not all research is created equal, meaning, that the outcome may depend more on who is doing the research than on real science. It's really quite unnerving.
My first introduction to squirrely (or at least poorly interpreted) research results came from listening to one of my favorite radio personalities -- Dr. Dean Edell. Dr. Dean would explain to a caller why research she was citing might not be so accurate as she would like to believe. His explanation would go something like this, "Suppose someone did a study of a group of people who died in car accidents, and learned that every single one of them had eaten carrots within two weeks of their car accident. Do you think the evidence would suggest that carrots cause deadly car accidents?"
That was long before I began my patient advocacy work. And I've learned much more over the past several years. For example, I've been well aware of the Vioxx research that was shared with the FDA, resulting in the approval of Vioxx, while additional research that showed Vioxx was actually dangerous to some groups of patients, was covered up.
Another example -- the lack of evidence for the use of complementary and alternative remedies -- lacking because selling them just wouldn't be profitable enough to spend the money to run the clinical trials needed to get FDA approval.
I've been horrified by the great lengths some groups will go to, to mask their role in research, a la the revelation last spring that the Liggett Group, manufacturers of cigarettes, created a smokescreen non-profit organization so they could underwrite research regarding lung cancer.
And of course, the reason research may be less than objective is due to pursuit of the almighty dollar. What else?
As smart patients, there are a few things we can do to make sure we don't become the victims of "creative" research results. It begins with understanding how the evidence is gathered (clinical trials), how the evidence is determined (evidence based medicine) and just how to get the information about any specific study.
Once we feel like we have a good handle on the possibilities, it's time to discuss them with our doctors, help them understand our findings, then determine together what choices are best for us.
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